Six soldiers killed in Boko Haram attack in Cameroon

An attack by Nigeria’s Boko Haram jihadists against a Lake Chad army base manned by an anti-insurgent regional force has left six Cameroonian soldiers dead, a military source said on Tuesday.

“Boko Haram attacked a base of the Mixed Multinational Force on the island of Darak [on Lake Chad] at around 2200″ on Monday, said the source, who asked not to be named.

He said six soldiers had been killed.

Boko Haram frequently travel around the many islands of Lake Chad, which borders northeast Nigeria, the far north of Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

A civilian from a vigilante group working with security forces to combat Boko Haram incursions was also killed, another security source said.

The jihadist group, which is seeking to impose strict Islamic sharia law in Nigeria’s mainly-Muslim north, has killed at least 20 000 people and left more than 2.6 million homeless in its six-year insurgency.

Cameroon has battled the extremist group since 2014 and has joined Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Benin in setting up a joint force against Boko Haram.